Scan the headlines of most online business publications every week, and you will no doubt find many articles promising new “hacks” and tricks to maximize your productivity. Self-help bookshelves are full of tomes that promise to help us form new habits and improve our effectiveness.
Our world is full of advice about how to get more done in less time, but what are we supposed to do with all that extra time we generate? Work more, perhaps?
What if we spent that time doing nothing?
In a world hyper-focused on productivity, the very idea of taking time for something as frivolous as “cloud watching” seems like a waste of time. But in truth, our brains crave time away from the non-stop inputs of our modern world. Allowing our brains to get the rest they crave can improve overall well-being and make us better leaders—and better humans.
In a literal sense, “cloud watching” is exactly what one expects—sitting somewhere outside and simply watching clouds tumble and form into different shapes. As a metaphor, we use “cloud watching” to describe unstructured time that has no agenda, no goal, and no purpose except to simply allow the mind to wander without distraction. Call it cloud-watching, daydreaming, wool-gathering—there are many names for the same basic idea.
We can also think of “cloud watching” as a dedicated time that is intentionally distraction-free. For example, someone might turn off all devices and sit with a notebook to “free write.” Runners sometimes leave their phones and earbuds at home to have an unstructured run that isn’t tracked, timed, or paced by music or podcasts. These intentional disconnections from the pace and structure of normal life can help realign our sense of time and place.
Here are five ways that unstructured or distraction-free time can help make you a better leader.
How many times have you solved a problem while in the shower or awakened in the night with a new approach to a challenge? This phenomenon is related to the Zeigarnik effect, which is the concept that people more easily recall unfinished or interrupted tasks than completed ones. When a problem or task is unfinished or interrupted, the brain continues to look for solutions and closure, and it can often more readily find completion when other activities do not occupy it. When we’re in the shower or asleep, our brains are free to roam in search of solutions.
Likewise, giving the brain intentional unstructured time can also help solve problems when you feel stuck. Taking half an hour to disconnect from phones, computers, and other inputs and just sit outside with no agenda may allow your brain to discover solutions to your most vexing leadership challenges.
Your daily shower or sleep cycle isn’t just good for solving problems. Those times are also often where we get our best new ideas. How many inventors and entrepreneurs credit unstructured time with their best new ideas?
Of course, a brand-new idea isn’t necessarily a thought you’ve abandoned or a problem you’ve been considering, so these aren’t examples of your brain closing a loop. However, this time does allow your brain to make connections it hasn’t made before, and in those new connections lies inspiration.
Even when your unstructured time doesn’t produce a new idea, it will give your brain the space it needs to consolidate and synthesize information, which can improve your creativity the next time you need an immediate solution or idea.
Just as your brain can solve problems and generate new ideas when given unstructured time, it can take advantage of unstructured time by synthesizing inputs, ideas, and emotions, which can improve our emotional intelligence and how we respond to others.
Giving yourself unstructured time away from work and screen inputs may also lead to new face-to-face connections. When we aren’t head-down over our computers or phones or driven by the demands of a work schedule, we’ll naturally be more inclined to take advantage of opportunities for an impromptu coffee with a neighbor, spur-of-the-moment walk with a co-worker, or an unexpected phone call from a distant relative. Unstructured time can open space for us to be genuinely human, which improves connectedness and emotional intelligence.
Watching TV, scrolling social media, or playing video games may feel mindless and dull, but our brains see things differently. The information we take in through screens must be processed, and the processing occurs in our “working brain,” which is the part we use for our real work as well. While we think that these “mindless” activities give us a break, the reality is that we’re just continuing to work and never giving our brains a rest.
Turning off all these inputs and resting our brains can be a valuable way to manage energy. When we disconnect from screens, our working brains can rest and revive so that we’re better able to do our jobs—without burning out.
At the end of some of my group coaching sessions with clients, I give participants two minutes of silence just to write down where they will focus their attention over the next three or four months. When the two minutes end, I usually hear multiple comments like, “We never get that kind of quiet,” or “It’s so rare to actually have quiet like that.”
Unstructured time doesn’t have to be lengthy. Even just a few minutes of space between other activities can be enough to help you focus your thoughts. Turn off your phone, look away from the computer, and sit quietly with a notebook and pen to just focus on one question or problem.
In a world as busy and full of inputs as our modern one, carving out unstructured or distraction-free time may seem impossible and even irresponsible. The truth is that allowing yourself to have time without structure or distraction can be a powerful way to improve your problem-solving abilities, productivity, and emotional intelligence—and produce great people and business results in your leadership role.